it's only these years right here. that's it. now, by definition, you never have an incumbent president in this situation more than once. presidents can only serve two terms so there's only one opportunity when they carry into that debate, when they're running for re-election, they carry into that debate the gravitas of being the president of the united states facing off against some non-president who wants their job. that only happens once per president. and these are the only times that has happened on tv in our nation's history. that's it. and this is the situation that president obama found himself in last night. it's only happened six other times in american history. so how did he do in historical context? there isn't that much historical context, right? like, this is a very knowable thing. honestly, that first one, that first one in 1976 where incumbent president gerald ford faced off against challenger jimmy carter, honestly, this one shouldn't even really count as part of the context like the rest of them because this one